Education -- Aurora Christian Academy
One-half of the population of Zambia is under 18 years of age. With this many children it is near impossible for the government of a poor country such as Zambia to build enough schools and hire enough certified, trained teachers. Hence, many villages and local communities have found it necessary to organize and build their own Community Schools. This, however, presents a serious challenge for many local communities who either do not know how to organize such an effort and/or do not have any qualified teachers to teach in the village school.
Being a teacher herself (with a Masters in Education), Lorie French has been working to develop a teacher-training program for Community Schools. She has had conversations with the Zambian Ministry of Education so that we might respond effectively to this urgent need in Zambia. And, since we believe the best training is that which incorporates practical training, we have started our own Primary School at Daybreak (cf. picture below).
Our goal is to train our students and their wives so that they can start (and manage) a Community School in their village upon their return home after graduation and serve as Community Teachers in those schools. Since we strongly believe in practical training, we have started our own Primary School on campus so that our students and their wives can get practical experience as teachers.
There are two other reasons why we have started our own Primary School on campus. (1) The nearest school to our campus is 7 miles away and it has no room to accept the children of our staff and students (about 40 children). Hence, in order for our children to have a school to attend, it is necessary that we have our own school. (2) There is a great need in our area for a school (especially a school with quality education). The only school in our area is over-crowded and is lacking in quality. Plus, there are many children in our area who are too poor to attend school.
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